Ball then broke into his 95-year-old grandmother’s home on Carlyle Road, Castleford, eight days later as she was alone in the property.

John Bull, prosecuting, said Ball broke into the house by smashing the kitchen window shortly after his uncle had been to the house to check on the elderly victim. Ball stole £700 in cash from the property. The court heard £100 of it was cash that had been saved by the victim’s late husband and was of sentimental value to her.

Mr Bull said there may have been an element of planning about the burglary because Ball had recently been to the house to speak to his grandmother about painting her fence. Ball was arrested and initially denied carrying out the burglaries. He was released on bail but caught stealing from an Asda supermarket and a B&M store.

Ball, of Sheldrake Road, Castleford, pleaded guilty to two offences of burglary and two of theft. Chris Dunning, mitigating, said: “They are mean offences and this defendant is no longer in the grip of heroin, which he was when he committed these offences. He is being sentenced now as a different man.” Jailing Ball, The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier, QC, said: “In recent times you have been addicted to heroin and that is what led you to commit these terrible, mean offences against family members.

“You had no regard for that. You were just desperate to feed your addiction. These are quite clearly serious offences.”